What Would You Do For a Tank of Gas?

George "oddly enough still President" Bush enjoyed a tour of the Middle East this week. While in Egypt, he urged Arabic nations not to follow the path of Iran & Syrian political and economic restrictive policies. Have you ever noticed that the administration's horror of restrictive Arabic states never seems to include our good oil-producing buddies the Saudis? It's not just the administration, of course, everyone wants to work with the Saudis, that big money has been too tempting for most to resist. Marriott just concluded an agreement to manage 9 new properties there, which will bring their hotels up to 12 in 2010. The Japanese government is working with the Saudis to provide nanotechnology that will help increase access to water. And while we scream and yell about nuclear technology going to Iran, the White House has made agreements to "assist the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to develop civilian nuclear power for use in medicine, industry, and power generation."

And why not. After all, although most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi, we took the war against terror to Iraq. With large numbers of foreign terrorists in Iraq now from Saudi Arabia, we are yelling at Iran. As Michael Moore pointed out in Fahrenheit 911, the Bush family/Saudi ties go back a long way and are very strong. They must be for Bible-belt Dubya to stay in bed with a country that won't allow Bibles into their country. Guess for George, there is something more important than his religious conversion. And don't even get me started on treatment of women in Saudi Arabia.

So it's no surprise that one of the most restrictive nations in the Middle East continues to get a pass from Dubya and friends.